Director: Santos Alcocer
Writers: José Luis Bayonas, Edward Mann, John Melson
Producer: Robert D. Weinbach
Cast: Jean-Pierrre Aumonut, Boris Karloff, Viveca Lindfors, Rosenda Monteros, Milo Quesada, Dyanik Zurakowska (as Dianik Zurakowska), Ruben Rojo, Mercedes Rojo, Mary Lou Palermo, Manuel de Blas, Eduardo Coutelen, Jacqui Speed
A globetrotting French photojournalist (Jean-Pierre Aumont) travels to a Spanish seaside community to interview a reclusive sculptor (Boris Karloff). Amidst the carefree antics of the local hipsters, murders are being committed to supply skeleton armatures for the sculptor’s statues.
The Flashback Fanatic movie review
This is a much-maligned giallo-style Spanish film that this reviewer admits to being obsessed with. Not to worry though, folks; I don’t own a garrote and can’t sculpt worth a damn. Then again, I do like to drink and play darts occasionally. Okay, maybe you should keep your distance.
Cauldron of Blood is part of the kill-to-create-art subgenre of horror films such as Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), House of Wax (1953), and A Bucket of Blood (1959). It was certainly inspired by any or all of these previously mentioned films, as it also deals with statues molded upon murder victims. Like A Bucket of Blood, it also revels in the fads and attitudes of its time but without the pointed satire.
The Spanish setting of this film is interesting and the situation for our photojournalist hero is certainly appealing. Whether you love him or hate him, you’ve got to admit that Claude Marchand has it made. He is handsome, successful, jet sets about on a lavish expense account, and can hatch a get-rich-quick scheme with a total stranger in one minute flat while striking up a romance with a pretty bohemian half his age. His glib sophistication and brashness may be off-putting at first, but it is later tempered by some sentiment and humor.
Many viewers may share Valerie’s criticism when she snipes at Marchand during a photo shoot, “Don’t you think you’re overdoing the local color bit?” The film takes plenty of time to show off the scenery and the locals partying. I rather like the opportunity to settle into this locale. The film is paced quite leisurely, especially by today’s idiotically hyperactive standards. Despite this slow pace, it can be a bit disconcerting to follow the series of events. Sometimes there are jumps of narrative from the main characters to minor characters without propelling the plot or generating a thrill. No Dario Argento style set pieces are to be found here.
That is not to say that the film does not try. It does have some style in lighting and suspense going for it. One character being chased back to her home and a later stalking sequence before the kill are effective. The final deadly showdowns between the main characters are also well done. Then there is a nightmare sequence that really makes you wonder just what the hell is going on in one person’s psyche. It may have just been the filmmakers coming up with weird stuff to film, but it certainly shows how twisted and tormented the character must be.
Perhaps most interesting is the sexual diversity in a few of its female characters. This was still something quite unusual for films of the time. It was probably meant to provide a kinky adult aspect to the film that would have proved just how “swinging sixties” it wanted to stress its world was. In true Euro-horror film fashion, oddball elements and strange character motivations season the story. It also provides some intriguing character conflicts without delving very deeply into them.
The film has a decent cast. Standouts are Viveca Lindfors, as the very conflicted and possibly insane Tania, and Boris Karloff, as her husband, the elderly blind sculptor Franz Badulescu. Horror buffs are disappointed that Karloff’s role is not more prominent, but he does have his moments, and it is his character’s profession that is the catalyst for the sinister goings-on in the story.
Jean-Pierre Aumont, as Claude Marchand, and Rosenda Monteros, as eventual love interest Valerie, seem to be a mismatched pair. Their gentle antagonism manages to enliven the proceedings a bit, though. Instead of this being a contrived conflict between the two stars that we just know are going to get it on anyway, Valerie’s petulance makes some sense. She is probably a bit conflicted about her attraction to Claude, when one considers their different lifestyles and her other relationship. The film does not put any deep focus on this development; it just sort of happens. Real life is like that sometimes.
Of special note to Euro-horror film fans are two other cast members: Milo Quesada, as bar owner Shanghai, and Dyanik Zurakowska, as the artist’s model Elga. Quesada had a small role at the beginning of the first Italian film to kick off the giallo trend, director Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962), aka The Evil Eye. He also had a more menacing role in another Bava film the following year, the horror anthology Black Sabbath (1963). Dyanik Zurakowska’s blonde beauty graced a very important film in the development of Spanish horror, The Mark of the Wolfman (1968), aka Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror. That is the first film written by and starring Spain’s horror movie champion, Paul Naschy.
I truly dig the swingin’ sixties vibe of this flick, in particular, a great jazzy score by Ray Ellis. Contrary to the opinions of many others, I think the score is appropriate to the contemporary scene and the events in the story. There is an occasional stinger that is a bit obtrusive, but, overall, the music enhances the action or mood. Especially good is the snazzy and sinister music playing while the killer removes the body of the first victim. That music is effectively revamped into a rousing action theme toward the film’s climax. It blew my teenaged mind when I first saw the movie in its entirety back in the olden days on late night TV. I recognized that many of this film’s musical themes were recycled in the CBS Saturday morning SHAZAM! superhero television series. Wow! Who’d a thunk music in a '60s horror flick would work for a '70s kids’ show? I also sensed something else very appealing and familiar about the style of this film’s music. Much later, I learned that Ray Ellis also did the great score for the first 1967-television season of the Spider-Man cartoon series at about the same time he would have been working on this film.
Ultimately, the film could use a bit faster pacing or another kill or two. Some awkward editing and film processing make it seem a bit more crude and disjointed than it really is. On the whole, however, I think it is a much better film than its dismal reputation suggests.
If I were a travelin’ man, I’d hop me a flight to Costa del Sol and hang out with the beautiful bohemians while sippin’ my beer and martinis. But it’s faster and cheaper to just pop Cauldron of Blood into the player and put my bent brain on vacation.
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